Thursday, September 29, 2011

Jeff Biggers: "At What Point Will the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice Be Summoned for an Investigation?"

In writer Jeff Biggers' latest article, he points out not just how disgusting John Huppenthal's recent remarks were in front of the Pima County GOP comparing Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program to Hitler's Nazi Jugend paramilitary organization, but the continuing error Huppenthal and his supporters make attacking Mexican Americans.

One of the areas of Chicano history the classes cover are the contributions of Mexican Americans during World War II — the largest of any ethnic groups during that time. Biggers points out Huppenthal's comments arrive a week after the 61st anniversary of Medal of Honor award winner Arizona war hero Sylvestre Herrera.

Biggers then asks what many are almost, almost tired of wondering: When will the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice finally intervene?

While Huppenthal, who aired a controversial radio ad last fall that he would "stop la raza," is no stranger to inflammatory speech making, this latest episode comes on the heels of Attorney General Tom Horne's recent charge that the Mexican American Studies program "must be destroyed" and shocking testimony by a Tea Party activist at a Tucson school board meeting with his scenario for "civil war."

At the same time, Huppenthal recently endorsed the recall campaign of disgraced Senate President Russell Pearce, who has openly associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations.

The questions beg: Have the extremist Arizona politicians and their Tea Party supporters gone too far in their witch hunt of the Ethnic Studies Program, and at what point will the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice be summoned for an investigation?